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11 – 20 of over 3000Kaiming Guo, Jing Hang and Se Yan
Economic theories on structural change focus on factors such as fluctuations in relative prices and income growth. In addition, China’s reform and opening up has also been…
Abstract
Purpose
Economic theories on structural change focus on factors such as fluctuations in relative prices and income growth. In addition, China’s reform and opening up has also been accompanied by increasing openness, significant fluctuations in investment rates, and frictions in the labor market. Existing literature lacks a unified theoretical framework to assess the relative importance of all these determinants. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
To incorporate all of the potential determinants of China’s structural change, the authors build a two-country four-sector neoclassical growth model that embeds the multi-sector Eaton and Kortum (2002) model of international trade, complete input-output structure, non-homothetic preference and labor market frictions. The authors decompose the sectoral employment shares into six effects: the Baumol, Engel, investment, international trade, factor intensity and labor market friction effects. Using the data of Chinese economy from 1978 to 2011, the authors perform a quantitative investigation of the six determinants’ effects through the decomposition approach and counterfactual exercises.
Findings
Low-income elasticity of demand, high labor intensity, and the existence of the switching costs are the reasons for the high employment share in the agricultural sector. Technological progress, investment and international trade have comparatively less influence on the proportion difference of employment in the three sectors.
Originality/value
Therefore, to examine the impact on China’s structural change, in addition to Baumol effect and the Engel effect, it is also necessary to consider the impact of three more factors: international trade, investment and switching costs. Therefore, the authors decompose the factors that may influence China’s structural change into the Baumol, Engel, investment, international trade, factor intensity effect and switching cost effects. The authors evaluate these six effects using the decomposition approach and counterfactual exercises.
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Yanga Simamkele Diniso, Leocadia Zhou and Ishmael Festus Jaja
This study aims to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of dairy farmers about climate change in dairy farms in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of dairy farmers about climate change in dairy farms in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted following a cross-sectional research design (Bryman, 2012). The study was conducted mainly on dairy farms located on the south-eastern part of the Eastern Cape province in five districts out of the province’s six districts (Figure 1). These districts include Amathole, Chris Hani, OR Tambo and Cacadu; these regions were not included in a recent surveying study (Galloway et al., 2018).
Findings
In all, 71.7% of dairy farm workers heard about climate change from the television, and 60.4% of participants reported that they gathered information from radio. Eighty-two out of 106 (77.4%) correctly indicated that climate change is a significant long-term change in expected weather patterns over time, and almost 10% of the study participants had no clue about climate change. Approximately 63% of the respondents incorrectly referred to climate change as a mere hotness or coldness of the day, whereas the remainder of participants correctly refuted that definition of climate change. Most of the study participants correctly mentioned that climate change has an influence on dairy production (92.5%), it limits the dairy cows’ productivity (69.8%) and that dry matter intake of dairy cows is reduced under higher temperatures (75.5%).
Research limitations/implications
The use of questionnaire to gather data limits the study, as respondents relied on recall information. Also, the sample size and study area limits use of the study as an inference for the excluded parts of the Eastern Cape Province. Also, it focused only on dairy farm workers and did not request information from beef farmers.
Practical implications
This study imply that farmers without adequate knowledge of the impact of climate change keep complaining of a poor yield/ animal productivity and changing pattern of livestock diseases. Hence, a study such as the present one helps to bridge that gap and provide relevant governing authority the needed evidence for policy changes and intervention.
Social implications
Farmers will begin to get help from the government regarding climate change.
Originality/value
This a first study in South Africa seeking to document the knowledge of dairy farm workers about climate change and its impacts on productivity.
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The purpose of the paper is to present a scenario‐based approach to river basin planning, and demonstrate how land‐use planning can be utilised as a strong measure in meeting the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to present a scenario‐based approach to river basin planning, and demonstrate how land‐use planning can be utilised as a strong measure in meeting the climate change challenges with new precipitation patterns during the current century.
Design/methodology/approach
The current research takes a scenario‐based approach to river basin planning. A modelling framework is defined to assess the effects of active spatial planning to mitigate the negative consequences of climate change in river basin management. In total, three models are included in the framework: a land‐use model, a runoff model, and a flooding screening model.
Findings
The research has demonstrated the advantages of using models and scenarios to assess the effects of climate change in river basin management, and how active spatial planning – in the current example afforestation – can mitigate negative consequences of climate change.
Research limitations/implications
The current research demonstrates how to combine models from different fields into one integrated model for impact assessment.
Practical implications
The developed methodology will assist river basin managers to assess the effects of river basin management plans.
Social implications
The consequences of climate change are mainstream topics discussed by most citizens and results from the models can facilitate a qualified debate.
Originality/value
The paper analyses the feasibility of using active spatial planning to mitigate the negative consequences of climate change, such as flooding along rivers. This work is original, as no such analysis has been carried out before.
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The classical idea of model, as a system that can anticipate, in a finite time interval, the full behavior of a real system, is shown to lead to serious contradictions. An…
Abstract
The classical idea of model, as a system that can anticipate, in a finite time interval, the full behavior of a real system, is shown to lead to serious contradictions. An alternate formalism is proposed, in which only general features of the real system can be projected. From this new formalism, optimal experiments on the real system are derived. A discussion of the problem of uniqueness in modelling theory is included. As an area in which the classical idea of model is applicable without contradictions, anticipatory systems are analyzed. Some general features of these systems are considered. Finally, the projective system of an anticipatory system is fully described in terms of the state system.
A phasic‐like behavior for tonic neurons is predicted by the classical Rashevsky‐Hill Model. The definition of a tonic neuron arises naturally in a clear mathematical way from…
Abstract
A phasic‐like behavior for tonic neurons is predicted by the classical Rashevsky‐Hill Model. The definition of a tonic neuron arises naturally in a clear mathematical way from this model. A simple experiment is proposed in order to verify the prediction of the Rashevsky‐Hill theory; should this experiment turn out to be positive, a revision of the biological concept of tonic neurons must follow.
Zengkun Zhang, Jianjun Wu, Qi Shang, Qiang Jiang, Junzhou Yang and Ruichao Guo
When manufacturing an arc-shaped tube product using push bending process, the transition zone and outfeed zone will inevitably occur. Transition zone and outfeed zone are caused…
Abstract
Purpose
When manufacturing an arc-shaped tube product using push bending process, the transition zone and outfeed zone will inevitably occur. Transition zone and outfeed zone are caused by the kinematical motion of mobile tools. The existence of transition zone and outfeed zone will lead to a big deviation between the forming product and desired shape. To improve the forming quality of arc-shaped products in push bending, the transition zone and outfeed zone are investigated in this paper.
Design/methodology/approach
A piecewise function is used to describe the bending characteristics along bending line, in which a series of vibration parameters are extracted and considered as control values.
Findings
The new strategy is helpful for finding the relationship between tools motion and curvature distribution and improving the bending lines design procedure in flexible push bending.
Originality/value
The new strategy is helpful for finding the relationship between tools motion and curvature distribution and improving the bending lines design procedure in flexible push bending.
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The single roots sigmoid model of population dynamics is proposed as a mechanism for enzyme kinetics. Within this paradigm enzyme co‐operativity is analyzed, deriving an alternate…
Abstract
The single roots sigmoid model of population dynamics is proposed as a mechanism for enzyme kinetics. Within this paradigm enzyme co‐operativity is analyzed, deriving an alternate formulation for the Hill coefficient and the binding polynomials.
Tawanda Machingura, Gurjeet Kaur, Chris Lloyd, Sharon Mickan, David Shum, Evelyne Rathbone and Heather Green
Previous research has provided limited evidence on whether and how demographic factors associate with sensory processing patterns (SPP) in adults. This paper aims to examine…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research has provided limited evidence on whether and how demographic factors associate with sensory processing patterns (SPP) in adults. This paper aims to examine relationships between SPPs and sociodemographic factors of age, sex, education and ethnicity in healthy adults.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional study design was used. A total of 71 adult participants was recruited from the community, using convenience sampling. Each participant completed the Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile (AASP) and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales – short version (DASS-21). Demographic information on age, sex, education and ethnicity was collected. Results were analysed using descriptive statistics and multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVA).
Findings
SPPs, as measured by the AASP, were significantly correlated to demographic factors of age and education after controlling for emotional distress using the DASS-21. A statistically significant multivariate effect was found across the four dependent variables (low registration, seeking, sensitivity and avoiding) for the age category, F = 6.922, p = 0.009,
Research limitations/implications
This was a cross-sectional study with limitations including that the study used a relatively small sample and was based on self-reported healthy participants.
Practical implications
SPPs may correlate with healthy adults’ age and to a lesser extent education. This suggests that it might be helpful to consider such demographic factors when interpreting SPPs in clinical populations, although further research in larger samples is needed to reach firmer conclusions about possible implications of demographic variables.
Originality/value
The findings in this paper add to the growing evidence that suggest that SPPs vary with sociodemographic factors.
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Chandrasekara Mudiyanselage Kanchana Nishanthi Kumari Chandrasekara, K.D.N. Weerasinghe, Sumith Pathirana and Ranjana U.K. Piyadasa
The Hamilton canal in the western province of Sri Lanka is a man-made canal situated in an area with immense anthropogenic pressures. The purpose of this study is to identify the…
Abstract
Purpose
The Hamilton canal in the western province of Sri Lanka is a man-made canal situated in an area with immense anthropogenic pressures. The purpose of this study is to identify the quality variations of the water in Hamilton canal and human perception about the present status of the water of the canal.
Design/methodology/approach
Sampling has been carried out in seven locations in the canal during dry and wet periods for water quality analysis. In situ field-testing and laboratory analysis have been conducted for physicochemical, heavy metal, oil and grease analysis of water. Only Pb, Cd, oil and grease were tested in the canal sediments. The samples were analyzed as per the standard methods of the American Public Health Association (APHA) Manual: 20th edition. A semi-structured questionnaire survey has been carried out to assess the human perception on the water of the canal.
Findings
The results revealed that average EC, Turbidity, Total Hardness, TDS, F−, Fe2+, Cl−, SO42− and PO43− of the canal water remained above the threshold limits of inland water standards. Concentrations of Pb and Cd were also above the standards in some locations. Oil and grease were in a very high level in water and sediments.
Originality/value
The water of the canal has been affected by nutrient, heavy metal and oil and grease pollution at present. Discharge of domestic, industrial, municipal wastes and sewage are the prominent reasons which have encouraged the deterioration of the quality of water in the canal.
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Kenneth J. Novak and Robin S. Engel
The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors that influence officer behavior when encountering suspects of crime who are perceived to have a mental disorder.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors that influence officer behavior when encountering suspects of crime who are perceived to have a mental disorder.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper utilizes data collected from systematic social observations of street officers during 617 encounters with suspects, including 49 that were perceived to have a mental disorder. Multivariate models are estimated to determine the relative influence mental disorder has on officer decision making.
Findings
The paper finds mentally disordered suspects are more likely to demonstrate disrespectful or hostile behavior. The paper also finds that disrespect and hostility increases the likelihood of arrests. However, results also demonstrate that despite behavioral differences, persons with mental disorders are significantly less likely to be arrested by officers. Results support the contention that officers view mental status as a mitigating factor during encounters, and further calls in to question the criminalization hypothesis.
Research limitations/implications
It is not clear what extent informal actions were taken by officers during encounters with mentally disordered suspects. Future research can also examine the interaction process that occurs between police and citizens who are mentally disordered, and consider evaluating the effectiveness of various responses to mentally disordered suspects.
Originality/value
This paper has value for both practitioners interested in understanding the dynamics of the police‐citizen encounter, as well as academics who are involved with theorizing the nature of social control by police officers.
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